This exhibition at the Koehnline Museum of Art is the culmination of a lengthy project by Chicago artist Patrick Miceli, who enlisted more than 40 artists to personally interpret the images of two American pop culture icons – Barbie and G.I. Joe. For the project, Miceli provided blank outline drawings of each character, measuring eight feet high and 42 inches wide, and asked each artist to respond to either image in their own style.
Barbie, first introduced in 1959, and G. I. Joe, who came to life in 1964, both represent perfect adult characters rendered as children’s toys. As such they represent powerful gender role models for fantasy, imitation, and inspiration. The fact that 80 percent of the female artists in this exhibition selected to work on Barbie, and 70 percent of the male artists chose to interpret G. I. Joe, demonstrates how strongly the gender issue is rooted in these figures. Gender issues are explored by 40 percent of the artists represented in this exhibition, while 45 percent chose to reflect social and political concerns. The remaining artists selected diverse topics, including ethnic identity and mythological symbolism.

Featured artists:

Blanca Robledo-Atwood, Barlow, Claudia Bernardette, Matthew Bozik, Lisa Brosig, Steve Campbell, Dee Clements, Julian Cox, Susan Dardar, Noriko Ebersole, Phyllis Edelstein, Janeil Engelstad, John Gregg, John Hankiewicz, Tyler Hewitt, Layne Jackson, David Jones, Kathleen King, Marion Kryczka, Eli Lamantia, Jason Lamantia, Paul Lamantia, Richard Laurent, Arthur Lerner, Gordon McIntosh, Meridyth McIntosh, Carol Haliday-McQueen, James M. Mesple, Lisa Miceli, Maryann Miceli, Joyce Owens, Michael K. Paxton, Sophia Pichinos, Corey Postiglione, , Marilyn Propp, Jeanne Reilly, Miriam Socoloff, Diana Stezalski, Charlie Van Gilder and Mary K. O’Shaughnessy, Marya Veeck, Rebecca Wolfram